Carrie Underwood

Carrie Underwood

Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005. Underwood has since become a multi-platinum selling recording artist, a winner of several Grammy Awards, Billboard Music Awards and American Music Awards, a Golden Globe Award nominee, a three-time Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association Female Vocalist winner, and a two-time ACM Entertainer of the Year. She is the first female artist to win back-to-back Academy of Country Music (ACM) Awards for Entertainer of the Year (2009/10). Underwood was inducted into and became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 2008. She was also inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in 2009. Billboard has described Underwood as Country Music's reigning Queen.

Her debut album, Some Hearts, was certified seven times platinum and, since February 2006, has been the fastest selling debut country album in Nielsen SoundScan history. It is also the best-selling solo female debut album in country music history, since February 2008, and, since March 2011, the best-selling country album of the last 10 years. Some Hearts yielded three number one hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs and a number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 Songs. Her second album, Carnival Ride, was released on October 23, 2007. It has been certified triple Platinum by the RIAA and produced four consecutive number one hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs. Underwood released her third album, Play On, on November 3, 2009. It has been certified double Platinum by the RIAA and has produced three consecutive number one hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs. As of May 16, 2011, Underwood became the American Idol Top Earner in the United States, selling so far more than 13 million album copies and over 22.5 million digital tracks, along with amassing over $66 million in tour revenues, since winning season four. Underwood's fourth album, Blown Away, released on May 1, 2012, has already been certified Platinum by the RIAA and delivered two number one hits on Billboard's Country charts. As of July 2012, Underwood has sold over 25 million singles and more than 15 million albums worldwide.

After amassing her 12th number one hit in June 2012, Underwood became the Female Country Artist with the most number one hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, from 1991 to present, breaking her own Guinness Book record of eleven, which was co-held with Reba McEntire. Underwood is also the only solo Country Artist to have a number one hit on Billboard Hot 100 Songs in the 2000 decade, as "Inside Your Heaven" reached the top of the chart in July 2005. Her album Some Hearts was named the Best Country Album of the 2000 Decade by Billboard, and she's the only Female Artist to appear on the Top 10 of Billboard's Best Country Artists of the 2000 Decade list, ranked at number ten. She was also ranked number 50 on the Artists of the Decade list by Billboard. In June 2011, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Underwood as the number eleven Queen of Pop, based on a lot of criteria from 2009 until 2011.